Welcome to our Parish website...

There are two churches, which belong to our Parish: St Lawrence & Mary Immaculate in Balcatta and St Theresa in Gwelup (with Mt La Verna Retirement Village). There is also St Lawrence Primary School in Balcatta. For children who do not attend a Catholic school, we offer a comprehensive Religious Education Program. Incorporated into this program are the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation. We are one Christian Family!

This site was created not only for the benefit of our parishioners but also for anyone who would be interested in our activities. If you would like to become a catholic or renew your catholic faith, we would love to hear from you ASAP! You are ALWAYS welcome in our community! You can even become a member of one of many groups existing in our parish or you can simply choose to be part of the parish as whole.

Jesus saved us as a community and He wants us to worship Him as a community (not only as individuals). So, come and see, experience God’s mercy, compassion and Christian love among us!

Fr Emil Ciecierega SDS, PP

Prayer for Parish

Christ Jesus,

You who love us and deepen in us the knowledge of Your name and Your love, open all doors and make known the way of salvation, You call us to take time and to be with You in prayer, to draw close to You and to seek Your Will.

You desire to purify our hearts and to lead us to repentance draw us together as a community and help us to open our hearts to appreciate the gift of each other.

Bless our Parish Community and all those we love. May your grace lead us to a new Pentecost in our lives to go and proclaim the Good News to all and a deeper desire to live the mission of the Church.

St Lawrence Parish is a very welcoming, vibrant, mutilcultural parish.

Please click on the Tab marked "Parish News" at the top of this page and select "Bulletin" to view our weekly news and find out what's happening!

We offer Children’s Liturgy on Sundays at the 5.30pm Mass during school term (except the 4th Sunday each month).

On the 4th Sunday of each month instead of Children's Liturgy we have Children’s Massat the 5.30pm Mass.

For Children's Liturgy, all primary school children are invited at the beginning of Mass to join our Children’s Liturgy Team in the parish hall to participate in activities and discussion tailored to help them better understand ‘The Liturgy of the Word’. The children will return to Church when the offertory gifts are taken up. We look forward to your kids joining us.

At Children's Mass on the 4th Sunday, the children are invited to remain in church and sing with the choir, read the prayers of the faithful and take up the offertory gifts. The children can simply join us near the choir area before the 5.30pm Mass and our Liturgy team will look after them. All kids welcome!

We hold a Parish Cuppa and acknowledge the recent birthdays of parishioners at the end of each month after Masses at 8.30am, 10am(Italian) and 5.30pm at St Lawrence Church, Balcatta and 11.30am at St Theresa Church, Gwelup. We invite everyone to join us for fellowship.

We encourage everyone to introduce yourself to a person sitting next to you each time you come to church before the Mass begins and offer to pray for one another during the Mass, for instance during the Prayers of the Faithful. Together we will continue to build and nurture our caring parish community.

The Feast of St Lawrence is a very special occasion in the life of our parish community.

Beginning with a Multicultural Mass at 9.30am (instead of the 3 regular Sunday morning Masses) followed by a Eucharistic procession around the church grounds and finishing with a light shared lunch at about 11am in the Alverna hall. We welcome everyone to come along and bring a plate to share if you can. You are most welcome to bring some traditional food from your country of origin.

We are a vibrant multicultural family. We warmly invite everyone to join us for this very special parish celebration.

At this time we celebrate with joy and ponder upon the wonderous Easter story. Our wish for you and ourselves is to open our hearts and receive the gift of renewed hope and promise of the resurrection glory from our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Fr Emil, Fr Leonard and Parish Secretaries

EASTER PROGRAM 2018

HOLY THURSDAY—29th March (No Mass at 9am)

The Lord’s Supper7.30pm at St Lawrence followed by Adoration at the Altar of Repose until Midnight

Lent is a time of preparation for Easter, which is the greatest feast day on our Christian calendar. We can prepare for it by spending more time on prayer, participating in the beautiful devotion of the Stations of the Cross and being part of a Lenten Reflection Group. All these activities give us an opportunity to renew our relationship with God and one another and to grow in our understanding and appreciation of the beauty of our Catholic faith.